Should Pokémon fighting be banned? - Great Debate

Ling-Ling from Drawn Together. Essentially a pokemon parody but his greatest desire is to battle + transitive property = pokemon love to battle = It doesn't need to be banned.

You're all monsters.

I think the thing about Pokemon is that it's just a video game. None of it is real. I don't see anything wrong with it. If you're into animal rights activism, go help the animals that are in actual trouble, being abused, so on, so forth. Don't attack Pokemon for starting this, animal fighting has gone on long before.

Based solely on whose argument was better, Cooper won by a mile.

This is like comparing apples to oranges or a fantasy world to the real world. As fantastic as the argument is, it is pretty much irrelevant for banning (non-existent in the real world) pokemon battles. LEAVE MY CHILDHOOD FANTASY GAMES ALONE AND LET ME DREAM! pfft... In the pokemon world everyone is happy and all this fighting is just sport to both pokemon and trainers (like football or something in the real world). BUT in the real world, there is the possibility that reality could corrupt pokemanz logic and abuse these cute fluffy pieces of shiz. TL;DR- Poké world logic =/= Real world logic

If we are... it only make sense for us to have POCKET MONSTERS! Get it!???? Ahahahah-*gets shot, maimed and dragged away on a truck*

...You do realize he's not being at all serious, right?

I love how pokemon fighting is so much larger of an issue than people getting stabbed in the neck. Also the irony of some of these reply.

I somehow imagine a completely different response from you Melee dragon, being that 26 have fallen before you.

Some of you guys are taking this a little too seriously -_-

I laughed at that way harder than I should have...

Great debate guys! Coop wins hands down for me. I admire a man who takes a stand he believes in regardless of how unpopular (currently getting 17.86% of the vote) it may be. With his heartfelt leadership and refusal to be swayed by the masses we may one day become a society that is able and willing to put an end to the barbaric sport of Pokemon Battling. In Cooper we trust!

That was absolutely amazing. Cooper geets my vote, hands down, almost purely because of he 'Our tax dollars' point, which had me in stitches. Great work guy- stuff like this is what makes you the best around :D

Gotta go with Cooper again on this one. If Pokemon were real, I doubt we would be fighting them.

Again its hard to say its a complicated issue that isn't as simple as a yes or no answer for me. Though I think that its hard to be say if the practice should be continued or not, but I think more awareness should be raised about pokeballs and that while I think that fighting in a safe environment is not a bad thing necessarily that it should be ensured that the pokemon consents to the match before hand.

Hollander Cooper, are you me? I've found myself agreeing with you every time.

Pretty fun and evenly matched debate. Coop almost cinched it but the whole "economy" slide ruined his side of the arguement for me. I'm pretty sure if you lived in a world where the economy revolved solely around the "Pokémon industry" you wouldn't simply just be able to ban it overnight with zero consequence. If you stop capturing and battling Pokémon, they're still going to be THERE, and based on how integrated they are in the 'ecosystem' you're gonna want to protect yourself, y'know, against all the wild trashbag Pokémon roaming the streets (seriously, just imagine a world where wild animals jumped out at you EVERYWHERE). How do you stop that? Well, you catch some for yourself and fight them off, and if your new "pet" doesn't have a problem with that and actually wants to stay by your side, then sure, why not? And as Henry pointed out it's just about being able to handle responsibilty. Like ANYTHING, ever! Pokémon battling is almost comparable to, say, boxing or something; it's dangerous but they try and follow set regulations to make it a lot safer. And the reason it's not banned is because it's fun, and the vocal minority are killjoys (not calling you a killjoy Coop but...well okay I am XD) Hooray for overanalysis!

This discussion on pokemon reminds me a lot of a discussion I had recently on whether or not zoos are ethical. A lot of the same problems appear, specifically the lesser amount of space given to animals under human care than they would have in the wild. However, it was rightly pointed out that when animals are under human care they don't need such a great amount of space. Instead of having to hunt for miles to bring back food to satisfy their their needs and the needs of their family, the food is instead provided for them. Animals in the wild, like wild pokemon, are assured of neither safety nor food, two things pokemon under good trainers have no need to worry about. The one thing that is important in a zoo/pokeball setting is to ensure that the animals/pokemon get the exercise they need to stay healthy, and that is where battling comes in. If you think about it, pokemon battles are the best thing that could have happened to pokemon. They get well fed and taken care of, as well as regularly exercised. Of course there are some downsides to battling pokemon, but injuries come as a part of life, and are probably least worrisome within a controlled setting. Pokemon in the wild most likely have a much shorter lifespan due to the dangers of predators, natural illnesses, and starvation in the winter (just as animals or humans in a non-civilized setting). A pokemon that does not battle would not have to be in such top shape, and therefore health problems that are noted and cured on a regular basis in battling pokemon might go unchecked, and we're complaining abut pokemon who faint during battle and is then promptly healed? I agree that we could stand to look at how the taxes are structured, (perhaps there could be a heavier tax on training and battling?) but if the people are willing to bear this much of a tax burden, I would argue that the government would just find something else to spend the money on. At least it's going toward the well-being of our fellow creatures.

PETA is silly.

i doubt we would be alive